Defeat marijuana measure

Tuesday

Oct 2, 2012 at 6:00 AM

By Dr. Leonard J. Morse

On Nov. 6, the voters of Massachusetts will be asked to legalize marijuana for “medical” use (ballot Question 3). Appreciating that most physicians are uninformed about the pharmacology of marijuana, who will be responsible for prescribing it?

Marijuana (cannabis) is a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance along with heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), peyote, methaqualone and methylene dioxmetamphetamine (Ectasy). “The drugs in this schedule have no accepted medical use in the United States and have high abuse potential.” Therefore, they may not be prescribed. Hence, there appears to be a serious disconnect between federal law and ballot Question 3.

On June 18, 2011, at a state legislative hearing on House Bill 625 to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, I listened to three hours of personal testimony in support of the legislation. The passion expressed was impressive. It convinced me that marijuana warrants medical study to verify the claims.

Marijuana should become a Schedule 2 substance joining the ranks of other narcotic analgesics. Like marijuana, “the drugs in this schedule have a high abuse potential with severe psychic or physical dependence liability and include opium, morphine, codeine, dilaudid, methadone, metamphetamine, preludin, ritalin, amobarbital, secobarbital and doriden.”

The public and the medical profession need to be educated based on science, including clinical studies, not just personal testimony to develop routes of responsible prescribing. It is inappropriate to prescribe an addictive plant product with varying concentrations of active pharmaceutical compounds so casually dosed as by smoking. The United Nations estimates that 190 million people consumed cannabis in 2007, and a new industry has arisen around the cultivation and dispensing of “medical” marijuana. In California certain counties claim more than 60 percent of their income is from growing pristine marijuana. In Los Angeles alone, there are estimated to be 1,000 dispensaries and their proliferation continues.

Since 1970, 17 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the “medical use” of botanical cannabis. Based on public claims attesting to the wonder of marijuana, the divide between the federal and state governments continues to broaden. The pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession should begin product development, clinical testing, and physician education before medical marijuana becomes legalized. Only Drug Enforcement Administration-licensed professionals should write prescriptions for marijuana as they do for all controlled drugs.

One thousand people (average age of 40 years) die annually in Massachusetts from drug overdose. While the population of the United States represents less than 5 percent of the world’s population, we consume over 60 percent of its illicit drugs. Death and injury from drug consumption and violence associated with its distribution in our society is a daily tragedy.

It is my opinion that, in the best interest of the public’s health, ballot Question 3 should be defeated.

Dr. Leonard J. Morse is emeritus commissioner of public health for the city of Worcester.